Ah, summer. That time of year when we try to return to that magical feeling of being out of school for summer vacation, by looking to escape the shackles of adult reality for just, at least, maybe, a week, by going on summer vacation ourselves.
Several classic cartoons have celebrated the joys and, at times, frustrations, of the summer getaway. Over the past two summers, I have taken a look back at just some of these (Part 1 and Part 2). And, with each year, readers have suggested some of their favorites.
Technically this (and The Flintstones, below) are Columbia cartoons – for those of you keeping track.
The Beach Party, Disney (1931) – suggested by Tony Ginorio
Directed by Burt Gillett, this black-and-white Disney short focuses on an outing to the beach, where Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow join Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto.
While it’s essentially seven minutes of sight gags, each one is entertaining and clever.
Mickey and Minnie make their appearance humorously, with Minnie striding onto the beach atop what looks to be a giant skirt, but is, in fact, a large beach umbrella that opens to reveal Mickey underneath it.
Horace dives into the water, landing face first into the surf, Mickey uses Pluto as a pump to inflate an inner tube, and Pluto has an entanglement with a crab (which he would also do in 1937’s Hawaiian Holiday).
As the short concludes, the gang must battle an octopus that comes ashore, where Horace spits watermelon seeds at the beast with the force of a machine gun, and poor Clarabelle is used as a cannon, firing jars of olives out of her mouth (it has to be seen).
With imaginative work from notable talents such as Ben Sharpsteen, Norm Ferguson, and David Hand, The Beach Party is a fun, summer-themed outing featuring comforting animation from an early era at Disney.
Betty Boop’s Life Guard, Fleischer (1936) – suggested by Hans Christian Brando
As “In the Good Ol’ Summertime,” plays, this short begins with a shoreline crowded with beach goers, who are all pulled into the water by a giant wave, as the next wave washes them back onto the beach, in the same place (the same gag was used in the 1944 Woody Woodpecker cartoon, The Beach Nut).
Betty Boop then struts out from her cabana and Freddy the lifeguard hooks her with a life preserver, pulling her up to the top of the lifeguard chair. He warns her not to go out too far because she can’t swim. She replies, “Oh, I’ll be OK, Freddy, I got my rubber horsey!”
Betty swims out into the waves and is having a great time frolicking in the water, until her rubber horsey deflates and she must call Freddy the lifeguard to save her.
At first, Freddy does not seem to be much of a lifeguard. When Betty first calls him, the “Life Guard” emblem on his tank top appears to shrink in fear. He then dives into the air, doing all sorts of fancy dives, only to land in the sand. He then dips his toe in the ocean and finds it to be too cold.
Once in the water, there are nice gags, where Freddy runs across the waves like they are mountains. The waves then come up in the shape of hands counting, as if poor Betty’s going down for the count.
Betty then hallucinates that she is a mermaid and then sings a song about Freddy, with all the undersea creatures as her backup. There are creative gags here as jellyfish jump out of jelly jars and sardines are hooked and ready to be rolled up in a can.
A sea-monster also pursues Betty, before she wakes up in Freddy’s arms for a happy ending.
Directed by Dave Fleischer, Betty’s Life Guard features the ever-moving action of both characters and backgrounds that was a hallmark of The Fleischer Studio. There are also some nice, off-beat touches during Betty’s dream sequence, including the design of the surrealistic sea monster, complete with smokestacks growing out of its nostrils.
In all, this Betty Boop beach adventure is, well, very Betty Boop.
Wabbit Twouble, Warner Bros, (1941) – also suggested by Tony Ginorio
This Merrie Melodies Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoon, directed by Bob Clampett, announces its humor early as all the credits are styled in Elmer Fudd’s “speak.”
As it opens, Elmer (voice of Arthur Q. Bryan) is driving in his jalopy (that dances to the music on the soundtrack) to take a “westful” vacation in “Jellostone National Park.” He sets up camp but learns that there will be nothing “westful” about it, as Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc), whose rabbit hole is nearby, soon begins torturing Elmer.
He tries to cover Bugs’ rabbit hole with a hammer, nails, and a board, but Bugs just uses it as a cellar door to come back out and cause more chaos.
Elmer tries to relax in a hammock, and Bugs paints his glasses over as sunglasses so that when Elmer wakes up to an alarm, he thinks it’s night. Elmer then goes into his tent to sleep for the evening. Bugs then imitates a rooster, so Elmer thinks it’s morning. This leads Bugs to break the fourth wall and note, “I do this kind of stuff to them all through the picture.”
As if this wasn’t enough, Elmer then has an entanglement with a bear, and after that, he has had enough. He gets so fed up that he quickly packs up and zooms out of Jellostone Park, but not before smashing the sign with an axe.
A forest ranger catches him, and he winds up in jail, where he feels he’ll finally get the “west and wewaxation” he deserves until he notices that his two cellmates are Bugs and the bear, who both ask, “How long you in for Doc?”
Master director Clampett gets everything from his two stars, and more, in Wabbit Twouble. Thanks to animation legends such as Robert McKimson and Virgil Ross, Bugs is like a nonstop force of nature, which is offset by the pear-shaped Elmer and his slower waddling movements.
The backgrounds by John Didrik Johnson are stunning, proving that it would be a “westful vacation” for Elmer if it weren’t for that “waskally” Bugs Bunny. Wabbit Twouble is a classic for summer, and any season.
“The Long, Long Weekend,” The Flintstones, Hanna-Barbera (1961) – suggested by Frederick
Unfortunately this episode isn’t available (for freee) online – so I’ll give you a quick synopsis.
This episode from the first season of The Flintstones gets Fred (Alan Reed), Wilma (Jean Vander Pyl), Betty (Bea Benaderet), and Barney (Mel Blanc) out of Bedrock for a long weekend break, but things are not what they seem.
Fred gets a letter from his old pal, Gus Gravel (Willard Waterman), who is running a hotel at the seashore, and they decide to go there for a long weekend.
When the episode cuts to the Gravel Hotel, all the employees walk out because Gus has bet their salaries on the horses. Now, there’s a convention coming, and he doesn’t know what to do until Fred calls.
As it turns out, Gus’ nickname was “Smooth,” and we soon see why, as he lets the Flintstones and Rubbles all come for free…but ol’ Smooth plans on putting them to work.
The couples show up, and all is well, until Smooth Gus lays the guilt trip on them about his staff having left. Fred decides to offer their assistance, thinking that Gus will decline, but he doesn’t, and soon Fred is the chef, Barney is the bellhop, and Wilma and Betty are maids.
Then, the Loyal Water Buffalo convention shows up, and that’s when the Flintstones and Rubbles agree that it’s time to go. The Grand Poobah decides that the wives accompanying them to the convention will help and do all the work. This does not go over well at all, and as the Poobah beats a retreat, he gives Fred his hat, which causes them to beat a retreat from the angry Water Buffalo Women’s Authority.
Fred, Barney, Wilma, and Betty are driving home when Wilma puts on the Poobah hat and demands that they go on a real vacation, which Fred and Barney, of course, agree to.
“The Long, Long Weekend” is a nice play on the Fred’s-plans-gone-awry plot model, with sharp writing from Warren Foster. From the opening sequence, filled with a great character moment where Dino waits for Fred to get home from work to an even more “cartoony” moment, where Fred and Barney catch a sea monster when fishing, this episode packs in quite a bit.
There’s also a dose of relatability, such as when Fred is told to relax and responds, “Relax?!? Are you kidding?! We are on vacation!”
Here is hoping that, over the next few months, we all get the chance to relax and enjoy some of that magical feeling of summer vacation.
